For those who know me, I have been following the buzz surrounding the newest Harry Potter film in the last couple of weeks. It is fun to read buzz and hype regarding people’s fascination about a movie. Last year, I followed the buzz around The Dark Knight which coincidentally produced by the same movie studio for which I have a weird sense of support. It is the Warner Bros studio. I have an associate who owns stock at Time Warner Inc, which is parent of Warner Bros. So, my sense of support for this company stemmed tacitly from my support for this associate, albeit it unfortunately has no lucrative effect whatsoever on me.
Before reviewing, let me state that that I am by all mean a non harry potter fan and will likely remain so after I actually saw this latest installment. Last year, when The Dark Knight opened in theatres, it was mind blowing and enjoying a several weeks of becoming a juggernaut for other big releases last summer. This year’s Harry Potter unfortunately does not quite live up its hype. One of the best scenes of the film is at the very beginning of the movie, and you know that usually portends a bad aftermath because everything up from that point is downhill. But it certainly is not the case for the half Blood Prince as the adventure progress thru crests and troughs throughout its 153 minutes running time. The tone becomes darker than ever.
This newest Harry Potter clearly exemplifies an excellent exercise of character study (especially true for Jim Broadbent and Alan Rickman) as well as great cinematic artwork. Its dark visual elements divulge the imagination spawned out of the genius head of one J.K. Rowling. The movie occasionally interludes with the teenagers dealing with puberty due to hormonal rage. It was this part of the movie handled wittily and charmingly by director David Yates that I, who normally despise teenage coping with puberty, have a sense of affection for. The commonplace normal teenage upbringing that you read in trashy romance novel is enchanting and effective partly due to the fact that we have built a strong rapport with those kids in the last 8 years or so.
If this film could ever be a great film, it certainly could not be great per se. It has to build on strong grounding bases that were the first 5 chapters on the series. You cannot conjure up the rich world of Harry Potter on this picture sans the knowledge of the previous stories of the saga. The cinematography is a great one. There is one beautiful shot involving dropping a ring and of course the very first scene of the film. This is not a devout film adaptation of the book, so I heard. This might serve well for its own good or not. It is for the fans to judge.
The major drawback of this film is as it moves forward from the two third of the movie towards the end it becomes slower in pace and eventually decaying audiences anticipation built up at the beginning. This is by far the most talkative Potter film and will surely turn off people with high adrenaline. I surely enjoy the slow pace because the director gives more time for the audience to appreciate the story and the character more. However, it might be too slow and too talky that by the end of its running time it annihilates all audience expectation for a thrill ride with a very good story. Don’t get me wrong the story is intriguing and those characters become more embraceable for me as opposed to a more cynical attitude I had before with the previous movies. It is like you are expecting for something that is never quite so delivered. However, according to some associates of mine who are Potter fans, they admittedly were pleased by this latest film.
Harry Potter and the half Blood Prince was meant to be released last November, but was moved to this summer because of some financial reason. The move has driven madness among fans alike and has catapulted its advance ticket sale sky high. Unfortunately, though it is still good, the film does not deserve that kind of privilege. Instead of a super massive black hole that can suck everyone dare enough to walk close to the cinema that plays the film without initial intention, it is just another Potter film with great eye candy and interesting tale to enjoy but just not worth getting into a very long line of purchasing the ticket for.
-Mulyadi Tjoa, Software Developer @PT Switchlab Indonesia, Jakarta-
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